Ioannis Kapodistrias is one of the most central figures of modern Greek history, inextricably linking his life with the foundation of the Greek state, of which he was the first Governor. He was a politician, diplomat and scholar decisively participating in shaping the conditions for the rebirth of Hellenism from all the above fields of his activity.
He was born in Venetian-occupied Corfu in 1776 and raised in an aristocratic environment. His parents were Count Antonios-Maria Kapodistrias and Adamantini Gonemi, also of aristocratic origin. Antonomarias' father was a jurist and a politician, a representative of the most conservative part of the nobles of Corfu. Raised in this family environment, Ioannis Kapodistrias received a high education and culture while between the years 1794-1797 he studied Medicine in Padua, Italy.
Returning to his birthplace he practiced the medical profession and two years later, in 1799, he was appointed commander of the Ottoman military hospital. Russian-Turkish troops had previously been stationed on the island. In about the same period (1802) he pioneered the establishment of the "National Medical Association" of Corfu, while he was also strongly active in other philological associations whose aim was to conduct scientific discussions and the spiritual cultivation of their members.
The establishment of the Ionian State under Russian and Ottoman rule in 1800 was the historical milestone for the political activity of I. Kapodistrias. In the summer of 1801, as an envoy of the ruler of the Iptanis State, Spyridon Theotokis, he went to Kefalonia, which at that time was affected by civil conflicts and disturbances, to implement the Constitution and the legitimacy of the State.
Kapodistrias' mission was accepted and the then young Kapodistrias managed to impose order and a new administration. A few years later, in April 1803, he was unanimously appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Marines and Commerce by the Senate of the Iptanisos State. During the two years 1804-1806, he was Inspector of Education, carrying out important work for the educational function, such as the establishment of elementary education schools in all the Ionian Islands, and the organization of public libraries.
In June 1807, he was appointed extraordinary commissioner in Lefkada and coordinator of military operations in the region. It should be noted that the region was besieged during this period by the military forces of Ali Tepelenli Pasha of Ioannina who sought to expand the boundaries of his sovereignty. Carrying out these military duties, Kapodistrias first came into contact with arms professionals, including Markos Botsaris and Theodoros Kolokotronis.
In 1809, at the invitation of Tsar Alexander I, Ioannis Kapodistrias went to Russia to serve in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His collaboration with Russian officials had already begun in 1803 in Corfu, where as Secretary of State, he worked closely with the Russian plenipotentiary, Count Georgios Montsenigos, in the formulation of a new Constitution, while in 1804 Kapodistrias was honored with the rank of collegiate adviser to the Tsar .
Kapodistrias' career in the Russian foreign ministry coincided with the time when Russia was at the height of its power as a global Empire with a leading role on the European and international diplomatic stage. This treaty soon brought Kapodistrias to the forefront of European diplomacy, with milestones being his participation as head of the first Russian diplomatic mission in Switzerland for the formation of the Swiss Confederation and the drafting of a new Swiss constitution, his responsibilities as diplomatic advisor to Tsar Alexander I ΄ during the Congress of Vienna, the assumption of responsibility for the final negotiations on behalf of Russia for the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty, etc.
The prestige of Kapodistrias among the diplomatic circles and the undertaking of negotiations so pivotal for Russian politics and diplomacy, led him to the position of the Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia in 1816 together with K. V. Nesselrod, a position that he essentially maintained until 1822 until his withdrawal to Switzerland due to his disagreements with Tsar Alexander I over the Greek issue.
The high position held by Kapodistrias in the Russian empire naturally rekindled the Genus' desires for liberation under Russian tutelage. In 1817 and in the context of the secret contacts of the Friendly Society, the Ithaca Philikos Galatis visited Kapodistrias in Petroupoli. There he revealed the revolutionary plan to him and offered him the leadership of the Company. Kapodistrias reacted strongly and refused the leadership recommending Galatis to leave Russia. The tsar, approving Kapodistrias' manipulations, went a step further by ordering the arrest of Galatis, who was released after Kapodistrias' intervention. Kapodistrias during this period showed strong skepticism towards the revolutionary plans considering that Genos was unprepared to rise up due to the lack of education and culture but also due to the general diplomatic status quo. In 1822 he went to Geneva where he would reside for about five years, - making trips to Paris in between - until his arrival in Greece, in January 1828 to assume the duties of the first Governor of the newly established Greek state.
His election as the first Governor (seven-year term) took place with the 3rd National Assembly of Troizina and in particular with Resolution 6 of April 3, 1827. Previously, he had gone to Petropolis to formally resign from his service in the Russian ministry of foreign affairs, even refusing the award of an annual pension by the new Tsar Nicholas. The arrival of Kapodistrias in January 1828, marred by military operations and civil strife in Greece, was accompanied by a generalized plan to reorganize the administration, secure the widest possible borders of the state through diplomatic channels, develop a strong executive power and achieve internal peace and security by weakening the old factions of the Ottoman period.
In the direction of mitigating the internal conflicts and controlling the factions, Kapodistrias formed a higher advisory body, the "Panhellenic" where he sought the participation and cooperation of representatives from all the leading groups. The initial political acceptance of Kapodistrias by the traditional forces was followed by a strong rallying of opposition forces against him, with the main accusations being the centralization of power in his person and in members of his family (his brothers Viaros and Augustinos had assumed administrative positions at his behest political and military in nature) and the exclusion of local leadership groups from positions of power.
Hydra, a traditional naval center during the Battle, soon turned into a stronghold of Kapodistrias' opponents. The Hydra ship owners demanded from the Kapodistria government the immediate compensation of the ships they had placed in the service of the Revolution, even threatening the Governor with naval blockades (as attempted at the Poros naval station) and other dynamic actions. A similar rebellion had already broken out in 1830 in another traditional center of the Agon, Mani, by the strongest family there, the Mavromichales. In particular, the rebellion was led by Tsanis Mavromichalis, brother of Petrobeis. Tzanis was arrested and imprisoned in Nafplion while his request to return to Mani was not accepted and despite his attempt to escape he was arrested again. In this strained climate and considering Kapodistrias to be responsible for the ill-treatment of Tzanis Mavromichalis, Konstantinos and Georgios Mavromichalis, brother and son of Petrobeis respectively, carried out the assassination of Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias on September 27, 1831, as an act of revenge, which however was based on drastic change in traditional relationships, hierarchies and power centers brought about by Kapodistria politics in the leading factions of the period of Ottoman rule.
* Stathis Pavlopoulos is Associate Doctor of the Department of Political Science and History at Panteion University.